The Scheveningen Pier is a pleasure

pier Seaside pleasure pier in England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out ...

in the Dutch

resort town A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is ...

near

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

. Opened in 1959, the current pier is the second in the town, the first being lost just after, and as a result of, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

History

Wandelhoofd Koningin Wilhelmina

The first pier of Scheveningen, named Wandelhoofd Koningin Wilhelmina (''Stroll Main Queen Wilhelmina'') opened on 6 May 1901 and was designed by the Dutch architect Wilhelmus Bernardus van Liefland and W. Wyhowski. The wooden structure was built on a steel foundation directly in front of the Kurhaus hotel. During the

Scheveningen was part of the Atlantikwall with the Germans using the pavilion as a storage facility as well as placing arms ammunition on the pier. To complicate an invasion by the Allies, the 30 meter promenade was removed and fitted with a suspension bridge. On March 26, 1943 the pavilion burned out completely. After the fire, the Germans demolished the pier by removing the wooden upper structure from its foundation, most likely due to fears the pier could be used by the Allied forces in an amphibious assault.

Current pier

On 17 September 1959 the current structure, designed by Dutch architects Hugh Maaskant and Dick Apon from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, was opened by the then mayor of The Hague, Hans Kolfschoten. Its unusual construction boasts two levels for the main pier, the lower deck a closed-in section, the upper open to the elements, and four terminal sections called 'islands', each originally with a separate focus. Its total length is 382 meters. After a period of decay the pier was purchased in 1991 by the

Van der Valk ''Van der Valk'' is a British television crime drama series produced for the ITV network. The first series ran from 1972 to 1992; followed by a remake in 2020. Created by Nicolas Freeling and based on his novels about a detective in Amsterda ...

group for one Dutch guilder. The company invested about 20 million euros in the pier, refurbishing the main span and one island, constructing a restaurant and casino. Following a fire in 2011 a new period of decay began and the pier was declared bankrupt in early 2013. The whole structure was closed in October 2013 by the town management, because the structure was no longer safe. The project developer Kondor Wessels Groep en Danzep BV bought the pier in October 2014 and planned to introduce various new features. On 19 July 2015, the upper deck of the pier was partly reopened, though safety concerns limited attendance to a maximum of 800 people at the same time. The lower deck is also open, although work continues. The upper deck contains a

Bungee jumping Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a ...

facility and a restaurant.

References

External links

Picture of burned pavilion
{{coord, 52, 07, 02, N, 4, 16, 48, E, region:NL_type:landmark, display=title Piers in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in The Hague